I hope so. Because according to the most basic indicator of political engagement — voter turnout — Dallas is pretty disengaged, particularly when it comes to local elections.

Here is a depressing statistic: Portland State University found that voter turnout in 10 of America’s 30 largest cities was less than 15 percent, and in Las Vegas, Ft. Worth, and Dallas, turnout was in the single digits. In the 2015 Dallas mayoral election, a measly 6 percent of eligible voters turned out in Dallas, the absolute lowest of the 30 largest U.S. cities. And when you breakout the numbers by age, things get even bleaker . Only 1.7 percent of registered voters aged between 18 and 34 voted in the 2015 mayoral election.

Over on the Dallas Observer‘s website, Stephen Young breaks down the numbers further, including outlining what parts of Dallas vote more than others and what demographics exert out-sized influence on local elections. For example, Hispanic neighborhoods tend to have much lower turnout, while voters aged 65 and older have 22 times more impact on election outcomes than voters aged 18-35. Voters in Dallas’ local elections are 21-years older than the average registered Dallas voter.

Comments

Despite your anecdote, 2006 turnout (34.23%) was down from 2002 (37.25%) and also lower than 2010 (37.43%). 2014 was the lowest of the bunch (34.02%).

My prediction is that 2018 turnout will be close to 34%.

Peter Simek

#sad

DubiousBrother

To increase voter participation, local, state and national elections should all be held on the same day. It would save money and all the lies could be crammed into one campaign time frame.
The media might also consider giving equal coverage to both sides of an issue to encourage “political engagement.” Recent example from Wikipedia: “The 2017 Women’s March in Washington, D.C. was used to illustrate the lack of media coverage for the March for Life — the crowds attending each march, held six days apart, were comparable, but according to a study by the Media Research Center, the 2017 Women’s March received 129 times more coverage on major television networks ABC, CBS, and NBC during their morning and evening newscasts. The 2017 Women’s March received 75 minutes of coverage between the networks while the March for Life received just 35 seconds.”